Scientific Name: Python regius
Common Name: Ball Python
Morph: Pastel Jungle
Genetics: Color Mutation - Co-Dominant ( NERD )

The Pastels are a co-dominant gene........meaning that when you breed a Pastel to a normal..........you will produce Pastels the first time. Now..........with that said.........when you breed two Pastels together you can produce "SUPER Pastels "!!! This is a very fast way to produce "morphs".

The Pastels are very pretty ball pythons.............they lack most of the brown coloration that a normal ball has...........and replace it with beautiful shades of yellow and orange. They are quite variable in color and pattern and the amount of "black flecking" and "evil orange" they have on the sides. They have become very popular in the ball python world because of their beauty and the fact that they are co-dom...........you can make more really fast!!

What I really like about these guys is "Back Up".....yes.........lets say you were breeding an albino male to a normal female to make hets.....but the albino male was not really breeding the way you would like him to and you really were not sure he did his job making the female gravid???????....so you take your "Co-dom" trait......your Pastel (assuming you don't have an arsenal of ALBINO males.....this is just an example)....and follow the breeding of that same normal female with the co-dom trait. Lets hope she produces eggs........they hatch...and all are normal looking. That means they are more than likely het for albino..........but.............here is the best part........if you produce "Pastels" in the clutch...........then that means there is no doubt of who daddy was...........it was the Co-dom daddy!!!!...and your not confused!!

Sure.....most people would just love to produce Pastels .......and so would I...........but the reliability of having the co-dom trait to take out the guess work on your breedings is awesome!!!
In other words this gives you a great weapon against guess work.

In the old days......lol......you would have backed up that "Not so active" male albino with a het albino or some other simple recessive gene...(assuming again that you do not have an arsenal of albino males.....this is just an example).....still really not knowing what the "Normal" looking offspring were......"hets"????...."poss hets"?????........but when you see the Pastels then you know.

I know this is not the standard reason to want a co-dom trait.........but it is my favorite reason to use them......obviously they are all beautiful!!!!....and your going to produce them anyway. It ain't so bad thinking you bombed on a simple recessive breeding only to have a Pastel save your butt......LOL!

The breeding technique I write about above is not " full proof "............I have proved that it is possible that a clutch of eggs can be fertilized by two different males.........and actually show the results in the offspring.......I bred a homozygous Lavender Albino male AND a homozygous Axanthic male to a homozygous Lavender Albino female............I produced 4 eggs...........1 of the babies was a Lavender Albino.........the other three were normal??????..........I would say that the normals are Double Het for Lavender Albino Snow..........This is not a bad thing..........but it is not something you want to do if these are going to be babies that you are selling and stating your reputation on...........it is very important to know exactly what genes you are producing and selling!!!!!!!!!..........I would only use the above breeding tip as a last result..........and even then I would keep the offspring in my collection to prove out in future breeding seasons..........

~~ URGENT NOTE!! ~~ Be very careful using multiple males .............since I wrote the above text..........I have proved yet again that two males can sire the same clutch of eggs............I would assume that even more than two males could do this...............so make sure that you know what males you are using and that you tell your customers ( if your selling ) what the deal is...........I would recommend not selling anything that you are not totally sure who the Father is............and again.............if you do..............let the buyer know what's up and then let them make the decision to purchase or not.............the "back up" method is fine.............but in my opinion.............only if you intend to keep the offspring for yourself to figure out.... 08/06/03.............Ralphie...........;)

I have not the room to write all the possibilities of combining co-dom with simple recessive genes and other co-dom genes.........but they really are endless!!!!!! Sure the co-doms will come down in price quicker than simple recessive......because they can be produced quicker......and the supply will eventually catch up to the demand.....making them more affordable quicker........thats why you have to keep combining them with other morphs...........stay ahead of the competition......:)

As of now ( 2002 )there are three "types" of Pastel Jungle ball pythons on the market.........The "Classic" Pastel........the Lemon Pastel...........and the Blonde Pastel. I believe all three are co-dom.........meaning that when they are bred together..........1 in 4 should be a "SUPER"...........And for anyone who does really understand the "Co-Dom" thing...........I will try and make it easy right now for you.........get ready.........this will be loooooongggggggggggggggggggg.............

Ok.........we will use the Pastel as an example...........the reason that we can say that the Pastel Jungle is Co-Dominant and not plain old "Dominant" is because it has been "proven" that when two Pastels are bred together, they produce Super Pastel Jungles.

Now here is the easiest way to get a grip on all of this.............Pastels are "HETS"........thats right.........a regular Pastel is a "VISIBLE HET".......meaning that you can see that it is a het because of it's appearence..............Het for what?.............Pastels are het for SUPER PASTEL.............

Lets break it down now from the very beginning.........and we will look at it in "Simple Recessive" terms.............Lets say you have a Pastel male..........you breed him out to a few normal females to make more Pastels...........this is exactly like breeding a het Albino male to a few normal females to make 50% possible hets.........and here is why??.............When you breed a het Albino male to a normal female............all the babies will come out completely normal looking...........lets say you got 4 babies..............2 out of those 4 babies will be het Albino and 2 out of the 4 babies will be normal............this is why we call them 50% possible hets..........because we know genetically that 2 out of 4 "half" which equals 50%, will be het for Albino.

Ok.........lets get back to the Pastel...........When you breed your Pastel to a normal female and produce..........lets say 4 babies again............genetically 2 of the 4 babies will be Pastels...........so you will have two beautiful Pastels and 2 normal looking babies.........now guess what?.........Those 2 Pastels that you just produced are the "hets" and the 2 normals are just "normal".....Confused yet?

Breeding a Pastel Jungle to a normal female is the equivalent to breeding a het Albino male to a normal female..........you get exactly the same results genetically...........Both males will produce hets............but here is where it gets really good........remember that your heat Albino male is going to produce 4 babies that all look normal............and you have to basically guess and hope for good luck that you pic out the "true hets".........you know they should be there.........but which ones are they??????...........they all look the same.........Now the good part...........The Pastel produced 4 babies ...........2 are Pastels..........and 2 are normal...........well ain't that easy?...........You know your Pastels are the "Het for Supers" because they are " visible hets" and your normals are just that..............normal.

So the Co-dom gene takes out all the guess work...........the Co-dom gene shows it's hets to you in plain site............."visible hets"............Ok.........I hope you are following me so far..........because we are almost at the end..............When breeding two hets together you are hoping to produce the Homozygous form of the gene...........lets say Albino............we all know that het albino x het albino will produce hopefully 1 albino in 4 eggs............and it is the exact same way with the Pastel...............Pastel ( = het for Super Pastel ) X Pastel ( = het for Super Pastel ) will produce one Super Pastel ( Homozygous ) in 4 eggs........plain and simple..........Pastels are "visible" hets for SUPER PASTEL..............just like a het albino is a "non-visible" het for Albino.

So we have gone this far........we should finish it to the end.............Now that you have your Super Pastel.........which is the equivalent to having an Albino...........both are homozygous snakes..........they are the end result snake. You breed a Super Pastel to a normal you produce a clutch that is ALL "visible hets"......Pastels...........every baby will be a Pastel if the mother or father is a Super..............just like every baby will be a het Albino if the mother or father is an Albino........Now lets go one further...........you breed your Super Pastel to a Pastel...............4 eggs..........2 should be Pastel and 2 should be Supers............just like breeding an Albino to a het Albino............in 4 eggs.........2 should be Albino and 2 will be het Albino.............and last but not least...........you breed Super Pastel x Super Pastel............all babies will be Supers!!...........just like breeding Albino x Albino...............all babies will be Albino.

Now where this can really get sticky is the debate between what is Co-Dom and what is Dominant..........right now in the ball python world we look at it like this.............To be Co-Dom..........the snake has to produce a Super...........to be Dominant..........the snake does not produce a Super..........it just makes more of itself.

Shewwwwww.........this should be in the Genetics section............Enjoy the pics of the Pastels below...........:)